The blue, yellow and red Romanian flag emblazons business after business along Burnt Oak Broadway.

It's no wonder this North West London neighbourhood has been dubbed "Little Romania".

In Edgware's Burnt Oak, Romanian is the second most spoken language and around 35% of migrants living in the suburb are from the Eastern European country, according to the Office of National Statistics.

There are 143,000 Romanians in London, making them the fourth largest foreign community in the capital. A huge influx of Romanians settled here after restrictions preventing the EU nationals from working in the UK were lifted in 2014.

On the surface Burnt Oak has a lively High Street packed with a colourful greengrocers', cafés and kebab shops, but is that set to change after Brexit?

It's likely plenty of EU citizens living in our incredible melting pot of a city feel pretty uneasy at the moment - because, let's face it, who knows what's going to happen after Brexit?

We went to Little Romania to ask people if they will Remain-ia (sorry, we couldn't resist!) after Britain leaves the EU.

"I'm not scared about Brexit because I'm sure I'll have a good life here. And if I had to leave I'm sure it would be fine."

Asked what her favourite thing about London is, Lavinia said: "The people, most of them are nice, they're friendly, especially the British ones."

Lavinia reckons 70% of her shop's customers are Romanian and said she didn't know anyone who'd left London because of Brexit.

'Of course I want to stay here, why wouldn't I?'

Waiter and barman, Alin Iancu, 25, is another die-hard Remain-ian who we met in Little Romania.

Alin was born in Romania but grew up in Spain and has been in Burnt Oak for just over a year.

Romanian-born Alin Iancu says it's easier to get work in London, and plans to stay (Image: MyLondon / Darren Pepe)

He said: "I don't want to go back to Romania, I want to stay in London. I like living here because I earn my own living, I don't have to depend on my parents.

"I miss my family, but I'm independent here, it's easier to get work in London than it is in Spain or Romania, there are more opportunities. Of course I want to stay here after Brexit, why wouldn't I?"

'Most of them have gone already'

Farhad Gadare, 43, has run a workers' café, Munchys, on Burnt Oak Broadway for 20 years.

The Afghanistan-born West Londoner fears for the future of his business after Brexit.

He said: "All my customers are Romanian but most of them have already gone (he gestures around the near empty café).

Café owner Farhad Qadare says many Romanians have already left the area because of Brexit (Image: MyLondon / Darren Pepe)

"Yesterday was dead, today is dead. All the business owners around here are worried."

Asked why he thinks Romanians have left London, Farhad said: "I don't think they understand what's going to happen, nobody's explained it to them, so they just left.

"To be honest this Brexit stuff affects everybody, every shop around here has been affected. We have a big Eastern European community in Burnt Oak, Edgware, Kingsbury and Colindale. And since September a lot of them have left."

According to its owner, Munchys café used to be packed with Romanian customers (Image: MyLondon / Darren Pepe)

"The ones I spoke to said 'We don't have a future here', because nobody explained to them what will happen.

"A lot of shops are closing now because we survive on the Romanians' business, they're the only customers we have."

'If the Romanians leave then our business is lost'

Hard Work Café owner Melek Yaman, 45, has had her business on the Broadway for 17 years.

Over the years the Turkish-born businesswoman has adapted her menu to cater to the tastes of Romanian customers.

Romanians in the UK

In 2018, Romanians made up the biggest number of new arrivals in the UK, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

ONS figures show:

46,000 Romanians have moved to the UK every year since working restrictions were lifted in 2014

An estimated 443,000 Romanians currently live in the UK, making them the second largest community of foreigners in Britain after Poles (985,000)

There are an estimated 143,000 Romanians living in London

Romanians are the fourth largest community of foreigners in London after Indians (319,000), Poles (168,000) and Bangladeshis (152,000)

In 2017/18 EU migration to the UK was at its lowest since 2014 but it still continues to add to the UK population (74,000 more EU citizens came to the UK than left last year)

35% of Burnt Oak residents speak Romanian

She said: "When we first opened it was as an English café, we served English breakfasts and traditional British food.

"But then year on year more and more Romanians started coming here, so we changed the menu and started to serve Romanian food. I had to manage my business so I started doing English and Romanian food, and that did well."

Turkish café owner Melek Yaman plans to shut up shop as soon as she can (Image: MyLondon / Darren Pepe)

But now Melek's ready to shut up shop as soon as the right offer presents itself. She said: "I want to sell this place as soon as the leasehold is up, because we don't know what will happen in the next two or three years.

"If the Romanian customers leave then our business is lost - they make up 70 per cent of our business. That's huge money, we wouldn't survive without it."

Asked if she wants to stay in London Melek said: "That's a good question, all my friends are saying we should move out to the countryside, where it's calmer.

"But if you don't have a job or a place to stay or anything, then it's time to go back to your homeland."

'People are unhappy'

Afghanistan-born shop manager, Fida Muhammad, 23, says most of his customers are Romanian and he too fears business will suffer after Brexit.

Afghan shop manager Fida Muhammad, 23, says most of his customers are Romanian and fears business will suffer after Brexit (Image: MyLondon / Darren Pepe)

He said: "A lot of people are unhappy because of Brexit. There are fewer customers than before. Brexit's not affecting me personally because I have a British passport and my family here, but it's affecting business.

"Of course I plan to stay in London but businesses all over the city are suffering.

"We will have to change to cater to more Asian customers if all the Eastern Europeans leave."

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